Meme chanson, meme refrain
La Cieca is indebted to those Wellsungs for this idea:Â what’s your birth opera? Or, in other words, which opera (and cast, if applicable) was the Met performing on the day you were born? (You get this information, of course, from the Met Archives Database.)
Unfortunately, La Cieca, being a Leo, was born outside the regular Met season. So, for the purposes of this meme, she’ll look to the the Salzburg Festival for her birth opera:
Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni: Cesare Siepi; Donna Anna: Elisabeth Grümmer; Don Ottavio: Anton Dermota; Donna Elvira: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf; Leoporello: Otto Edelmann; Il Commendatore: Dezsö Ernster; Masetto: Walter Berry; Zerlina: Erna Berger. Wilhelm Furtwängler; Wiener Philharmoniker.)
 What’s your birth opera?
Queena Mario (née Helen Tilletson if I recall aright) had a 345 performance Met career (1922-1938) which encompassed Micaela, Gretel, Juliette, Mimi, Musetta, Ah-Joe (ORACOLO), Mary, Dutchess of Towers (PETER IBBETSON), Gilda, Violetta, Lauretta, Ines (L’AFRICAINE), Sophie, Antonia, Eudoxie, Olga (FEDORA), Volkhova (SADKO), Manon, Martha, Marguerite, Nedda, Nanetta and Consuela in ANIMA ALLEGRA). Several of these in new productions, with sevaral broadcasts, including the first-ever, of HANSEL AND GRETEL. She has the house record for Ines sewn up and is second as Gretel only to Bella Alten, who sang 70 of them!
In San Francisco from 1923 to 1932 she often sang many of the same parts, plus Manon Lescaut, Mignon and Ravel’s Enfant.
She taught Rose Bampton, Helen Japson and Frances Bible.
Granted it’s one of the truly FABULOUS diva names, but– if not a historical figure– she certainly had an admirable, serious professional career.
Metropolitan Opera House
April 21, 1986
CARMEN {796}
Carmen………………Grace Bumbry
Don José…………….Vladimir Popov
Micaela……………..Jeannette Pilou
Escamillo……………Ryan Edwards [Last performance]
Frasquita……………Dawn Upshaw
Mercédès…………….Ariel Bybee
Remendado……………Andrea Velis
Dancaïre…………….Russell Christopher
Zuniga………………James Courtney
Moralès……………..John Darrenkamp
Lillas Pastia………..Nico Castel
Guide……………….Charles Duval
Conductor……………James Levine
…YAY! Coincidentally, I have this version on record. Or, to be precise, cd.
Does anyone know where I can look up what was playing at the Bayreuth Festival on August 13, 1970?
In the meantime, I’m quite happy with this lineup in Salzburg:
OTELLO
New production
Herbert von Karajan, Conductor
Herbert von Karajan, Stage director
Günther Schneider-Siemssen, Stage sets
Jon Vickers, Otello
Peter Glossop, Jago
Ryland Davies, Cassio
Hans Wegmann, Rodrigo
Luigi Roni, Lodovico
Siegfried Rudolf Frese, Montano
Victor von Halem, Ein Herold
Mirella Freni, Desdemona
Stefania Malagu, Emilia
Wow! Now I understand why I have this mad passion for Trovatore.
IL TROVATORE
Manrico……………..Kurt Baum
Leonora……………..Regina Resnik
Count Di Luna………..Leonard Warren
Azucena……………..Margaret Harshaw
Ferrando…………….Giacomo Vaghi
Ines………………..Maxine Stellman
Ruiz………………..Lodovico Oliviero
Gypsy……………….George Cehanovsky
Conductor……………Cesare Sodero
No Met for this Leo. (I do get a Salzburg Monteverdi “Orfeo.”) But subtract nine months, and it appears I was originally but a gleam in Donizetti’s eye.
October 26, 1970
DON PASQUALE
Don Pasquale…………Fernando Corena
Norina………………Reri Grist
Ernesto……………..Alfredo Kraus
Dr. Malatesta………..Tom Krause
Notary………………Gabor Carelli
Servant……………..Judit Schichtanz
Servant……………..Frank D’Elia
Servant……………..Arthur Backgren
Conductor……………Carlo Franci
Ah, but I might have had the loopiest sporting event of all time…: http://sohothedog.blogspot.com/2008/02/il-ciel-lho-fatto-nascere-per-far-beato.html
Damn, it was a Sunday…
October 31, 1958
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN {92}
Offenbach-Barbier/Carré
Hoffmann…………….Nicolai Gedda
Olympia……………..Mattiwilda Dobbs
Giulietta……………Rosalind Elias
Antonia……………..Lucine Amara
Stella………………Nancy King
Lindorf……………..George London
Coppélius……………George London
Dappertutto………….George London
Dr. Miracle………….George London
Nicklausse…………..Mildred Miller
Andrès………………Alessio De Paolis
Cochenille…………..Alessio De Paolis
Pitichinaccio………..Alessio De Paolis
Frantz………………Alessio De Paolis
Luther………………Lawrence Davidson
Nathanael……………Robert Nagy
Hermann……………..Calvin Marsh
Spalanzani…………..Paul Franke
Schlemil…………….Clifford Harvuot
Crespel……………..Norman Scott
Mother’s Voice……….Mignon Dunn
Conductor……………Jean Morel
Virginblogger, I counted backward and ried to find something at the Met for around when you may have been concieved.
Not only was there a Nabucco in October with Leonie Rysanek, you had the following on 10/13/60:
Metropolitan Opera House
October 13, 1960
SILVER JUBILEE
The Metropolitan Opera Guild
1935 – 1960
Tannhäuser: Entrance of the Guests
Metropolitan Opera Chorus
Conductor……………Kurt Adler
L’Africaine: O Paradiso!
Barry Morell
De Curtis: Non ti scordar di me
Rosalind Elias
Conductor…………….Martin Rich
La Gioconda: L’amo come il fulgor del creato!
Mary Curtis-Verna
Regina Resnik
I Puritani: Qui la voce
Laurel Hurley
La Forza del Destino: Solenne in quest’ora
Jan Peerce
Mario Sereni
Conductor………………Fausto Cleva
Carmen: Quintet
Helen Vanni
Carlotta Ordassy
Joan Wall
Paul Franke
Robert Nagy
Louise: Depuis le jour
Dorothy Kirsten
Conductor……………….Jean Morel
Tannhäuser: Dich teure Halle
Leonie Rysanek
Herodiade: Ne me refuse pas
Blanche Thebom
Paint Your Wagon: They Call the Wind Maria
Cesare Siepi
Conductor………………..Ignace Strasfogel
Tosca: Vissi d’arte
Licia Albanese
La Rondine: Ch’il bel sogno di Doretta
Licia Albanese
Madama Butterfly: Love Duet
Dorothy Kirsten
Eugenio Fernandi
La Bohème: Donde lieta uscì
Zinka Milanov
Gianni Schicchi: O mio babbino caro
Zinka Milanov
Conductor…………………Fausto Cleva
Presentation: Rudolf Bing, General Manager, Anthony A. Bliss, President of the Metropolitan Opera Association, and Langdon Van Norden, President of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, spoke in tribute to Mrs. August Belmont, Founder and President Emeritus of the Guild, in whose honor the concert was given. The silver tray, inscribed with the signatures of the Guild’s Board of Directors and Staff and presented to Mrs. Belmont on this occasion, hangs in the Belmont Room of the Metropolitan Opera House.
J. Strauss: The Emperor Waltz
Edith Jerell
Bruce Marks
Metropolitan Opera Ballet
Choreography by Alexandra Danilova
Conductor…………………Erich Leinsdorf
[The audience at this performance was composed of members of the Guild and invited guests.]
Hope this cheers you up. I tried searching Bayreuth, but their archives only seem to go back to 2002.
De rien, mon cher! Mes pardons pour pas avoir trouver quelque chose autre, mais peut-etre, c’est TOI qui etait le chose le plus important qui etait cree en ce jour!
How the heck do I make accents on teh internets??
I am happy with my birth performance — unless of course I was born the King of Sweden or the Earl of Warwick!
Metropolitan Opera House
February 12, 1962
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA {78}
Giuseppe Verdi–Antonio Somma
Amelia………………Leonie Rysanek
Riccardo…………….Carlo Bergonzi
Renato………………Robert Merrill
Ulrica………………Nell Rankin
Oscar……………….Anneliese Rothenberger
Samuel………………Bonaldo Giaiotti
Tom…………………Luben Vichey
Silvano……………..Calvin Marsh
Judge……………….Andrea Velis
Servant……………..Robert Nagy
Dance……………….Judith Chazin
Dance……………….Ron Sequoio
Dance……………….Richard Zelens
Conductor……………Nello Santi